All Forum Posts by: Gerald W mcgee

Hi every one, i am about to get some commercial property under contract.  Does anyone know how to calculate the value of the property and how to get the comps? any sites i can go to for this? sites like zillow does not offer commercial properties. 

I went to one of fortune builders seminar and i had to pay $200,thats $200 i could have saved. You got to be careful of these gurus,they are going to say only so much in a way that will get you hyped up and them get you to buy their product or service. My advice is just plug in like BP and other real estate sites such as connectedinvestors.com or reiclub .com. and find local rei meetings in your area ,get on social media as well,biggest thing is you got to get connected and get the word out what you do. It's best to partner up with some one and co wholesale with them,you won't get as much profit but you will get a good learning experience.                                                                                                                     Like mentioned above you have to get your self set up (building websites,getting business cards,social media sites) and so on. These guru seminars are just going to tell you the basic steps in real estate investing and tell you it's so easy and get you excited and get you to buy their stuff,but they don't tell you all the little critical steps that are involved. They are not going to give you instant credibility that's something you have to work for and build it up slowly.  

Hi Ammon and welcome to BP, you sound ready to go but it seems you are going in 50 different directions and overwhelming your self,there is a lot of learning in this business. stick to one topic or area such as wholesaling for instance,laern the basic steps in wholesaling focus on one thing in wholesaling like just target vacant houses,FSBO'S,absentee owners, and learn to get your feet wet and work your way to other areas of REI. some times it means baby steps. Or like mentioned above start birddogging. You need to get the word out about you and what you do( REI meetings,handing out business cards,placing bandit signs, ect). if you have $6,500 to spend to a guru you can spend that on your business and marketing. Go to meetup.com and find out where and when there are REI meetings in your area. Before getting anything under contract have a list of cash buyers lined up first,i learned that mistake quick. I hope this was help full and good luck. Gerald McGee

Hi Charles and welcome to BP. You have come to the right place,just go to learning and the forums and blogs and just plug in. The biggest trick to this profession is outsourcing and marketing,this is a good site  to start learning about outsourcing and marketing yourself.Don't worry about your income and credit,you can start doing this business with very little of your own money(set a budget for your cost to set up and marketing), i recommend learning how to wholesale to start out with, you don't need any money or credit to do this as far as you are not buying the house but getting it under contract and assign to an end buyer for a profit.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Go to learning and then free how to and start to learn the steps to wholesaling.  I hope this is  helpful and good luck to your new ventures, Gerald McGee.                                   P.S no matter what don't give up!

Hi Arthur, and thanks for that link and good luck to your investing journey.

Hi Wayne, what a bird dog is doing is finding properties like driving for dollars,they find fsbo's,and properties that look vacant and other potential properties and gives you the info and you get up with the owner/seller and negotiate the deal. And when you close you pay them a fee for their services,some bird dogs will charge per lead.

Hi Rick,getting a buyers list built up first is very important. You can scour craigs list and find cash buyers there,look for ads such as we buy houses fast with cash, that is an investor,or attention investor,investor special and so fourth. Look at the pricing, if it's dirt cheap and the ad look professionally laid out,and you must place ads as well saying things like deep discount properties  in(your area) or cheap wholesale properties available in (your area). You will be surprised the results you  get scouring craigs list. Get the numbers off bandit signs,they are investors as well.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                As far as motivated sellers you have to get the word out,now i am still struggling in this part but must be persistent, like the old saying persistence reduces resistance. You must place ads to target sellers,make up some business cards(vista print has good deals),get them in as loud a color as possible to make them stick out. Post flyers and bandit signs, look for fsbo's and vacant properties. The biggest thing is don't give up!            I hope this was helpful.                                       Gerald McGee                                                                                                                                                                                                        P.S coming to BP was a great choice because you have access to knowledge and resources, and you can find cash buyers here as well and analyse and market properties on here.                   

Hello BP members. I recently hired a bird dog for me and he  sent me back he couldn't work with me in NC because he heard it was illegal to bird dog in NC. So i did some due diligence and looked into it,and according for what i can understand( well you know reading laws requires beyond a college education to understand them some times), states in my translation that a licensed agent/brokers that hires a third party to get buyers/sellers is unlawful,but a private  transaction is not unlawful unless a third party such as wholesaler may be considered as unlicensed brokerage.                                                                                                                                                                                                                             I contacted a paralegal adviser that  specializes in real estate ,and she stated that wholesaling is legal in NC  but it is your due diligence to go to court house at dep,of deeds and do a check on the property and make sure there is no judgments against the property to save aggravation at the closing process,the fee is $40-$70 depending on county she replied. If this is all true maybe it would be worth the 40-70 dollars to make sure the property is free and clear to save the hassle and get the buyer or seller angry and loose the deal( i don't want to get the reputation to selling sour houses to my potential repeat buyer).                                                                                                                                                    I hope this was helpful and i am looking forward to hearing from your feed back,this could be advice or asking for advice to make sure i fully understand this law, some times understanding the law is like understanding greek.                                                                                                                                                                                                              Gerald McGee

Hi Sarah,and welcome aboard and you are in the right place. Stay plugged in and take in as much info as possible and ask questions. Find local investors on BP and go to meetup.com and find local rei meetings,and the biggest thing you got to market yourself on or off line. On line place ads on craigslist backpage and other free ad sites,social media is the next best thing do do online. Similar to a real estate agent you got to market your self and as far as off line get business cards and hand them out as much as possible,go to rei meetings,get numbers from bandit signs and place some out as well,and if budget allows start a direct mail campaign. I hope this helps and the best of luck on your investing venture. 

Great posts above,thanks guys, as mentioned above avoid mls but you need to build a relationship with an agent to help you evaluate a property and get a more accurate ARV. If you are starting out with limited funds try posting a few bandit signs you can go online to sites like freebanditsigns.com and get them at a good low price especially if you get blank ones and write on them your self(sometimes hand written signs are less intimidating than professional ones) place ads like crazy any where you can craigslist back page ect. scour these ad sites and try to find a possible good deal.